Brenda Glascott

Brenda Glascott serves as Interim Dean and Director of the University Honors Office while holding a Professorship in the Department of Humanities at Portland State University. Her academic leadership extends across institutional roles and scholarly contributions within rhetoric and composition studies.

Her educational foundation includes:

• PhD in English (Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy Studies) from University of Pittsburgh
• MA in English from University of Pittsburgh
• BA from Binghamton University

Glascott's research investigates women's rhetorical agency within historical constraints, focusing on literacy practices, gender dynamics, and public sphere theory. She examines how cultural values embed within composing processes and reading practices, with particular attention to nineteenth-century women's letter-writing and labor activism. Her work bridges historical analysis with contemporary issues in literacy pedagogy.

Her publications from 2010-2021 reveal consistent engagement with marginalized rhetorics, evolving from evangelical literacy studies toward modern challenges like misinformation. Key trajectories include labor movement rhetoric (especially post-Triangle Shirtwaist Fire), queer activism in public spheres, and editorial practices in academic publishing, all grounded in interdisciplinary literacy frameworks.

Recognition for her scholarship includes:

• Book of the Year award from the Religious Communication Association (2014) for "Evangelical Masculinity in The Pilgrim Boy"

As co-founder and Managing Editor of Literacy in Composition Studies, Glascott cultivates scholarly community while mentoring emerging researchers through the Honors College. Her editorial leadership demonstrates sustained commitment to open-access knowledge dissemination.

Current initiatives center on micropublics theory development through analysis of women labor activists' rhetorical strategies after the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, with ongoing international presentations and invited seminars including the Huntington Women's Studies Seminar.